It was past 1 a.m. in early 2026, the only light in the room coming from the single desk lamp and the faint blue glow of my laptop screen. Another day had bled into night — investor calls, product roadmap revisions, customer support tickets that somehow always land at 11 p.m., and the endless mental loop of “what if we miss the next wave?” I closed the last Slack thread, shut down the dozen open tabs, and felt the familiar weight settle: not exhaustion exactly, but the kind of mental static that makes sleep feel impossible.
I didn’t reach for Netflix or my phone’s infinite scroll. Instead, I pulled out the small notebook I’d started carrying six months earlier — nothing fancy, just a plain Moleskine I bought at an airport. I flipped to a fresh page, set a 5-minute timer on my watch, and began to write.
Three simple questions.
That tiny ritual — five minutes, three sentences — became the most powerful thing I did for my business and my sanity.
What the Ritual Actually Looked Like
No apps, no guided prompts, no journaling guru philosophy. Just three questions, asked every night without exception:
- What did I do today that moved the needle? (Not busywork. Not emails answered. Real progress — even if it was one line of code, one customer conversation, one decision that removed friction.)
- What drained my energy or focus today? (Brutally honest: the meeting that should’ve been an email, the rabbit hole on Twitter, the scope creep I agreed to because I didn’t say no.)
- What’s the one thing I want to carry into tomorrow? (A single intention — never more. Sometimes tactical: “Finish the pricing page.” Sometimes deeper: “Lead the team call with calm instead of urgency.”)
That’s it. Five minutes maximum. Pen down, lights off, sleep.
How It Started (and Almost Didn’t)
I didn’t invent this. I stole it from a founder friend who’d been doing something similar for years. He called it his “midnight audit.” I laughed at first — sounded too self-help, too soft for someone running a SaaS company with real burn rate pressure. But after a string of weeks where I ended every day feeling scattered and woke up already behind, I tried it for 30 days straight.
Week one: felt forced. I wrote generic things.
Week two: started being honest. The draining list got longer.
Week three: the “one thing” became sharper — real leverage points.
Week four: I began waking up with clarity instead of dread.
By month two, missing a night felt like skipping a workout — noticeable the next day.
What Changed in the Business (and in Me)
The ritual didn’t magically fix revenue or product-market fit. But it quietly rewired how I operated.
- Decision fatigue dropped — I stopped carrying unfinished thoughts to bed.
- Next-day priorities became crystal clear — no more “where do I even start?”
- I caught patterns faster: recurring energy drains (certain meetings, certain people) got eliminated or delegated.
- Confidence grew — every night I could point to at least one needle-moving action.
- Emotional resilience improved — bad days ended with “what’s the one thing for tomorrow?” instead of rumination.
The biggest surprise? Creativity spiked. The mind, no longer churning overnight on yesterday’s problems, had space to generate new ideas in the morning.
While winding down after particularly intense days, some founders discovered complementary light distractions — quick timing exercises like aviator 251 on https://www.aviatorgame.net/aviator-251/ — as a way to fully detach before the reflection ritual.
What Other Founders Say When They Try It
I started sharing the habit quietly in small founder groups. Reactions varied — then the messages started coming.
- “Day 12. First time I slept without thinking about churn numbers.”
- “The ‘one thing’ line is gold — I used to wake up with 47 priorities. Now it’s one.”
- “I thought it was too woo-woo. Then I missed two nights and felt scattered all week.”
Not everyone stuck with it. Some preferred voice notes, others bullet lists in Notion. The format didn’t matter — the consistency did.
Why It Works (Beyond the Anecdote)
There’s solid psychology here:
- Zeigarnik effect closure — unfinished tasks haunt us at night. Writing them down signals completion.
- Ego depletion prevention — decision fatigue is real. Ending the day with one clear intention preserves willpower for tomorrow.
- Gratitude + accountability loop — acknowledging wins reinforces identity (“I’m someone who moves the needle”).
- Emotional offloading — naming drains reduces their power.
It’s not journaling therapy. It’s operational hygiene for the entrepreneurial brain.
How to Start (Without Overcomplicating It)
Don’t buy a fancy journal. Don’t set 30-minute timers. Keep it brutally simple.
- One notebook (or phone note titled “Midnight Clarity”).
- Three questions only.
- Five minutes max — timer recommended.
- Every night — no exceptions for the first 30 days.
- Review weekly — look for patterns in wins/drains.
That’s it.
Was It Really Worth the 5 Minutes a Night?
Yes — those 5 minutes returned hours of clearer thinking, better sleep, and sharper decisions. In a life where time is the scarcest resource, it became one of the highest-ROI habits I’ve built.
Did It Make Me a Better Founder?
Not directly. But it made me a clearer one. And clarity, in business, is everything.
Final Reflection: Honest Take on the Habit
I used to end days feeling like I’d been in a boxing match — bruised, scattered, still swinging at shadows. Now most nights end with three short sentences and a sense of closure. The business is still hard, the challenges still real, but I meet them with a quieter mind.
If you’re a founder reading this at 1 a.m., feeling the familiar churn, try it tonight. Three questions. Five minutes. Pen down.
Tomorrow will thank you.
FAQ Section
How long until you saw results?
Week 2–3 — clearer mornings, less rumination.
What if I miss a night?
Just resume. Guilt is worse than skipping.
Pen and paper or digital?
Pen — forces slower thinking, less distraction.